Tierable and nestable egg-and-milk crate



J. A. ROGUS Aug. 8, 1967 TIERABLE AND NESTABLE EGG-AND-MILK CRATE Filed Jun e 24, 1965 4 Sheets-Sheet l Aug. 8, 1967 J. A. ROGUS TIERABLE AND NESTABLE EGG-AND MILK CRATE 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed June 24, 1965 War Aug. 8, 1967 J. A. ROGUS TIERABLE AND NESTABLE EGG-AND-MILK CRATE 4 Sheets-Sheet Filed June 24, 1965 'W/ja Aug. 8, 1967 J. A ROGUS TIERABLE AND NESTABLE EGG-AND-MILK CRATE 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed June 24, 1965 United States Patent 3,334,766 TIERABLE AND NESTABLE EGG-AND-MILK CRATE ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A receptacle adapted to nest and tier with like receptacles and having upper and lower tiering support points has deep side walls of greater extent than the width of the bottom and each wall is composed of spaced wires inclined from top to bottom in the plane of the associated wall to permit close nesting. The side walls are substantially vertical to save space when like receptacles are stored side by side. An upper receptacle is nested into a lower receptacle by being shifted laterally to permit the lower tiering support points of the upper receptacle to pass the upper tiering support points of the lower receptacle. This would be impossible except that the front end wall is cut away to a zone sufliciently below the upper edge to avoid interference.

This invention relates to an improvement in a tierable and nestable egg or milk crate type of receptacle wherein the height of the receptacle is equal to or greater than the width of the bottom, and wherein the means for tiering and nesting two like receptacles requires no moving parts.

One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a crate receptacle of the type described having substantially vertical side walls so that when a number of receptacles are assembled side-by-side for storage in a vehicle or otherwise, there is practically no loss of space between them. A problem in such a receptacle is to find means for nesting two like receptacles one within the other without having the side walls of one receptacle flare up wardly and outwardly to receive the side walls of a like receptacle. It is this problem to which the present invention is directed.

An object of the present invention, therefore, is to provide a receptacle having a bottom with upstanding walls which include front and rear end Walls and oposed side walls between them with upper tiering support points near the upper edge of the structure and lower tiering support points near the bottom of the structure, all support points being rigid with the receptacle'structure. The lower tiering support points are vertically below the upper tiering support points and when two like receptacles are tiered, the upper receptacle is movable relative to the lower receptacle from a tiering to a nesting position by shifting the upper receptacle by an amount just suflicient to move the lower tiering support points of the upper receptacle to a position just to one side of the upper tiering support points of the lower receptacle, after which the bottom and side walls of the receptacles are so constructed and arranged as to permit the upper receptacle to move downwardly and nest in the lower receptacle save for the fact that there would be interference of the bottom of the upper receptacle with one of the end walls on one side of the lower receptacle if that end wall extended vertically to the upper edge of the receptacle. The present invention provides a cut-away portion of that upper end wall to a Zone below the upper edge suflicient to permit movement of the upper receptacle to escape any such interference and enable the upper receptacle to proceed downwardly into nesting position in the lower receptacle.

3,334,766 1 Patented Aug. 8, 1967 Other objects and advantages of the present invention will appear from the accompanying drawings and descrip tion and the essential features will be set forth in the ap pended claims.

In the drawings,

FIG. 1 is a perspective of a receptacle embodying the present invention and constructed of wire;

FIG. 2 is a front elevational view of the same with egg cartons or the like positioned therein and shown in dot-dash lines;

FIG. 3 is a fragmental plan view of a portion of FIG. 2 taken from the position 33 of FIG. 2;

IFIG. 4 is a side elevation of the receptacle shown in F G. 2;

FIG. 5 is a side elevation of two like receptacles as shown in FIG. 4 but in nested position;

FIG. 6 is a view of the two receptacles of FIG. 5 moved into tiering position;

FIGS. 7 and 8 show progressive movements of an upper receptacle relative to a lower receptacle when moving from the tiering position of FIG. 6 to the nesting position of FIG. 5;

FIG. 9 shows portions of two receptacles moving between tiering and nesting positions, such receptacles having a deeper portion of one of the end walls cut away according to the teaching of this invention;

FIG. 10 is a front elevational view of one of the receptacles of FIG. 9;

FIG. ll is a perspective view of a modified form of the receptacle of this invention;

FIG. 12 is a side elevational view of two of the re-v ceptacles of FIG. 11 in tiered position; while FIG. 13 is a front elevational view taken from the left-hand side of FIG. 12 with the upper receptacle shown in dot-dash lines so as to clearly distinguish one receptacle from the other. e

It is common when tiering and nesting two like recep-. tacles to have the walls flare outwardly as they move up wardly from the bottom so that one receptacle will move down in nesting position in the other like two flower pots. However, when this principle is utilized for deep receptacles, the total lateral flare of the receptacle causes two such receptacles when stored side-by-side to waste quite a lot of space between them. The present invention uses receptacles with substantially vertical side walls and by this term, as used in the specification and claims, I mean to indicate that the side walls do not have enough divergence from the vertical to permit the amount of nesting which is commercially acceptable.

Referring to FIGS. 1 through 6, a preferred form of the receptacle of this invention is composed of an upper edge wire 10 extending uninterruptedly around the upper edge of the receptacle and to this are rigidly attached, as by welding, wires 11, generally U-shape in form, having portions 11a secured to the upper edge wire and extending downwardly along the nearer side wall as viewed in FIG. 1, then bent substantially at right angles at 11b, then extending across the bottom as at 110, then bent again substantially at right angles as shown at 11d, and then eX- tending upwardly at 11c to form the other side wall generally parallel to the wall formed by the wire portions 11a. The terminal end of the wire is again secured to the upper edge wire 10. In FIG. 1 there are four of these U-shaped wires spaced apart and generally parallel to each other. The portions 11a and'lle as clearly seen in FIG. 4 slope in the plane of the side wall from the top to bottom of the receptacle for a purpose later described. The portions 112 on the opposite side of the receptacle would be directly behind the portions 11a as viewed in FIG. 4.

The receptacle will be described as having a front end toward the left in FIG. 1 and a rear end toward the right as shown there. Two generally U-shaped wires 12 have their upper ends rigidly secured to the upper edge wire 10 as by welding and then extend downwardly and inwardly asshown by the portions 12a and then bent at approximately right angles as shown at 12b to extend across the bottom where they are again bent upwardly to provide a front wall by the wire portions 120, the upper ends of which are attached to the portion 10a of the upper edge wire 10 which is bent downwardly from the general plane of the other three sides of the receptacle as will later appear. Two other wires 13 are similar to wires 12 except that they are on the opposite side of the receptacle and again slope downwardly and inwardly alongthe portions 13a, then pass along the bottom as at 1311 and then up the front wall as shown at 13c and are again attached at their upper ends to the wire portion 10a. The wire portions 12a, 13a, 12c and 130 are inclined from topto bottom in the plane of the associated end wall.

The bottom is finished by a wire 14 extending around the four sides of the receptacle and rigidly secured as by welding to all of the wire portions 110, 12b and 13b slightly inwardly from the sharp shoulders or corners where the side wall wires bend to go across the bottom as clearly shown in FIGS. 2, 4, and 6. Preferably, an extra wire 15 near the top of the receptacle is provided parallel to the upper edge wire and extending around the back and two side walls of the receptacle and welded to all of the wires 11, 12 and 13 and also welded to the wire 10 as it passes downwardly between the upper edge and the plane of the wire 10 and down to the zone of the wire portion 10a, at the points a.

Upper tiering support points 16 are provided rigid with the side walls and near the upper edge. In this embodiment each of these support points is provided by a single piece of wire having its opposite ends welded to the upper edge wire 10 and having parallel portions 16a extending horizontally inward and then downward to provide a bight or loop 16b to support the bottom of an upperlike receptacle. Referring to FIG. 4, it will be noted that the shoulders 11b of the wires 11 nearest the front and back walls, here designated by the reference character 11b are vertically directly beneath the loops 16b of the upper tiering support points so that the shoulders 11b of an upper receptacle will fit into the upper tiering support points at 16b of the lower receptacle as shown in FIG. 6 when two receptacles are in tiered position vertically directly one above the other.

It will be noted in the various views that the bottom wire 14 is bent downward slightly to lie in a lower plane as shown at 14a along the front and rear sides of the receptacle and a better support for the receptacle is provided if a portion of the side wall section of the bottom wire is bent downwardly as shown at 14b to lie in the same plane as the wire portions 14a.

Referring to FIGS. 5, 6, 7 and 8, it should now be apparent how this invention is applied to the two receptacles shown. In moving the upper receptacle from tiering posi tion as shown in FIG. 6 toward nesting position as shown in FIG. 5, the upper receptacle is first lifted slightly so that the lower tiering support points, the shoulders 11b, are lifted out of the upper tiering support point members 16 and moved toward the left in FIG. 7 just sufi'lcient so that the wire portions 11a and 11e clear the upper tiering support points. At this time, the bottom means of the upper receptacle as defined by the wires 13c (and 12c) extend toward the left beyond the upper edge wire 10 and its depressed portion 10a at the front end of the receptacle as designated by the dimension A shown in FIG. 7. In this position of the parts, it is impossible to move the upper receptacle vertically downward into nesting position in the lower receptacle. In this form of the invention it is then necessary to tilt the upper receptacle slightly to move on down into nesting position, this tilting being somewhat exaggerated in FIG. 8. In this position of the receptacles, the right hand wire 11a of the upper receptacle is close against the upper tiering support point member 16 at the right hand side and the bottom means of the upper receptacle at the left hand corner as defined by the wires 12!: and is then enabled to pass the upper edge wire 10a at the lowered or cut away end of the receptacle. Following the position of FIG. 8, the upper receptacle can be gradually returned to a vertical position after which it slides smoothly downward to the nesting position of FIG. 5 with wire portions 11a, lle, 12a, 13a, 12c, and 13c lying parallel to and preferably fairly closely against the like wires of the lower receptacle as shown in FIG. 5. At this point the engagement of the wire 15 of the upper receptacle against the upper tiering support point members 16 of the lower receptacle prevents jamming of one receptacle into the other.

In the modification of FIGS. 9 and 10 all parts are like those just described and perform the same functions except that the front end of the receptacle is cut away to a zone lower than that in the first described embodiment so that the wire portion at 10a permits a greater movement of the upper receptacle from tiering position downwardly into the lower receptacle before it is necessary to enter the bottom means completely into the lower receptacle to continue the nesting operation. This is illustrated in FIG. 9 Where the upper receptacle X has had its lower tiering support points 11b lifted out of the upper tiering support point member 16 and then moved to the left and downwardly as previously described in connection with manipulation of the first embodiment. Referring to the left hand wire 11a of the upper receptacle in FIG. 9, it will be seen that it is pressed against the upper tiering support member 16 and its angle of inclination to the vertical B permits movement of the upper receptacle X rearwardly in the lower receptacle Y as the upper receptacle moves downwardly. Obviously, the further down the movement of the upper receptacle proceeds, the further to the rear it is possible to move the receptacle X relative to the receptacle Y. In this embodiment, the spacing of the upper tiering support points 16, toward the front end of the receptacle from that end, and the depth of the cut-away portion 10a at that end, and the angle of inclination B of the left hand wires 11a, and He, at the left hand side of FIG. 9 are so proportioned and arranged that when the bottom means of the upper receptacle X reaches the lower level of the cut-away portion 10a, the upper receptacle is in vertical registration over the lower receptacle and thereafter the upper receptacle can move vertically downwardly to nesting position in the lower receptacle, like the position shown in FIG. 5, without tilting of the upper receptacle. It will be noted that the wires of the side walls 11a and 112 are coplanar with the upper tiering support points 16b so that they cannot pass each other in that common plane.

It will be noted that all of the wires in the side walls and end walls are offset inwardly at 20 just below where they are attached to the wires 10, 10a and 15.

The portion of the bottom wire is sufficiently higher than the portion 14a so as to permit welding of the wires 110 on top of the bottom Wires 12b and 13b.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 4, egg cartons 21 are shown stacked in one of the receptacles and FIG. 4 shows how a carton may be moved out of the cut-away portion of the front end of the receptacle even when another receptacle is tiered above the first one.

In FIG. 11 I have shown a slightly modified form of the receptacle which is exactly like FIG. 1 except for the parts presently to be described. Toward the front of the receptacle, two upper tiering support members 16 are positioned on opposite sides of the receptacle exactly like the two tiering support portions 16 toward the front of the receptacle shown in FIG. 1. A single tiering support portion 16' is provided on the rear wall of the receptacle performing the function which is found in FIG. 1 in the two tiering support members 16 toward the rear of the receptacle of that figure. Referring now to FIGS. 12 and 13, two of the receptacles of FIG. 11 are shown in tiered position. The shoulders 11b of the side wires 11 nearest .the front of the receptacle rest in the loops of the upper tiering support members 16 in the same manner as in the first described embodiment of this invention. At the rear of the receptacle, the lower ends of the back wall converging wires 12a and 13a, near the center of the receptacle, rest in the recess formed by the tiering support member 16' which is rigidly attached to the top Wire where it passes along the rear wall of the receptacle. Preferably, the width of the recess in the member 16' is arranged to snugly receive the lower ends of the wires 12a and 130' as shown in FIG. 13 so that there is practically no relative movement of the upper member relative to the lower member where these support members meet.

In moving the tiered baskets of FIGS. 12 and 13 to a nested relationship similar to that shown in FIG. 5, there is sufiicient space between the upper tiering support member 16' at the rear of the lower receptacle and the depressed wire 10:: toward the front of the lower receptacle so that the bottom of the upper receptacle, represented by the wire 14, may pass downwardly through this space while the wires 11a of the upper receptacle are clearing the tiering support members 16 in a manner like that shown in FIG. 7. The front wire 14a of the bottom of the upper receptacle will then pass the wire 10a upper edge, the height of said side wall means being at least equal to the width of said bottom means, said side wall means having front and rear end walls and opposed side wall between them, there being upper tiering support points rigid with said side wall near said upper edge, there being lower tiering support points rigid with said side walls and said bottom means and near the latter, said lower tiering support points being vertically below said upper tiering support points, said side wall means being substantially vertical, all of said side wall means consisting of spaced wires inclined from top to bottom in each wall in the plane of said wall, an upper receptacle being movable relative to a lower receptacle from tiering to nesting position by shifting said upper receptacle by an amount just suflicient to move said lower tiering support points of said upper receptacle to a posiof the lower receptacle and all parts will move down to a nested position like that shown in FIG. 5.

It should be understood that the front wire 10a of FIGS. 11, 12 and 13 might be further depressed like the wire 10a shown in FIGS. 9 and 10 without affecting materially the operation of the last described form of this receptacle.

What is claimed is:

A receptacle, adapted for tiering and nesting with other like receptacles, having a bottom means and side wall means rigidly secured to said bottom means and extending upwardly therefrom and terminating in a generally planar tion just to one side of said upper tiering support points of said lower receptacle, after which said bottom means and side wall means are so constructed and arranged as to permit said upper receptacle to nest in said lower receptacle save for interference of said bottom means of said upper receptacle with one of said end walls on said one side of said lower receptacle projected to the plane of said upper edge, and there being an upper portion of said one of said end walls cut away to a zone below said upper edge suflficient to permit movement of said upper receptacle to avoid such interference, in nested position the bottom means of an upper receptacle lying well below said cut away zone of a lower like receptacle, whereby no space is lost between wall means when said receptacles are stored side by side.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,252,964 8/ 1941 Faulkner 220-97 2,950,825 8/1960 Averill. 3,100,582 8/1963 Lockwood.

THERON E. CONDON, Primary Examiner. GEORGE E. LOWRANCE, Examiner. 

